This invention relates to an automated installation for lining a wall of an enclosure with brickwork. More particularly, this invention relates to an automated system that comprises a bricklaying robot to work in the various sectors of an enclosure, a depalletizing module that forms stacks of bricks to suit the needs of the bricklaying robot, a lifting module designed to transfer the depalletized bricks vertically to a working platform and a supply module designed to take bricks to the level of the working platform in accordance with the needs of the brick laying robot. Although this invention is not limited thereto, this invention describes a fully automated installation system for lining the internal surface of a wall of a metallurgical converter with firebrick.
Various robotized installations have been proposed over the last few years for automatically carrying out this work which, until now, was carried out manually. Among these robotized installations, it is possible to distinguish essentially two categories, namely those in which the depalletizing of the bricks is carried out inside the converter, at the level of a working platform (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,688,773; 4,708,562; 4,720,226; 4,786,227; 4,787,796; and 5,018,923) and those in which the depalletizing is carried out outside the converter, at a level which is generally accessible to forklift trucks (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,765,789 and 4,911,595).
Each of these installations categories has its own advantages and disadvantages. Thus, the installations with depalletizing inside the enclosure have the advantage of speeding up the bricklaying. Indeed, with the exception of relatively short non-productive pauses necessary for the loading of a pallet, the necessary bricks are permanently available on the working platform. These installations with internal depalletizing at the level of the working platform have the disadvantage, however, of considerable overall size at the level of the working platform. The latter must consequently have relatively large dimensions, which makes these installations unusable for converters of smaller diameter. In addition, these installations also have the disadvantage that broken or excess bricks and empty pallets have to be removed from the working platform and out of the converter, which is an operation against the flow of work which slows down the process badly in a fully automated brickhandling process. Finally, installations in which depalletizing takes place at the level of the working platform lack flexibility when more than two types of bricks are used for the brickwork. For reasons of congestion, it is indeed inconceivable to store more than two pallets at the level of the working platform.
For installations with brick depalletizing outside the converter, the abovementioned problems do not arise. These installations are however burdened by a much more complex system for handling the bricks. There is obviously a need to optimize the system for handling the bricks in an installation for lining a wall of an enclosure with brickwork along the lines of a system as presented in document U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,595 (which is assigned to the assignee hereof and fully incorporated herein by reference), in order to speed up the working rate of the bricklaying robot and simplify the system for handling the bricks.